Prevent

PREVENT is a strand of the UK counter terrorism strategy known as the CONTEST strategy the aim of the strategy is 'to reduce the risk to the UK and its interests overseas from terrorism, so that people can go about their lives freely and with confidence'. CONTEST is split into four work streams that are known within the counter-terrorism community as the 'four P's': Prevent, Pursue, Protect, and Prepare.
 
The purpose of Prevent is to stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. This includes countering terrorist ideology and challenging those who promote it, supporting individuals who are especially vulnerable to becoming radicalised, and working with sectors and institutions where the risk of radicalisation is assessed to be high. The deradicalisation programme is known as Channel.
 
The Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015 introduced a duty on certain specified bodies, of which the NHS is one, that in the exercise of their functions, to have 'due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism'. The key challenge for the healthcare sector is to ensure that, where there are signs that someone has been or is being drawn into terrorism, the healthcare worker is trained to recognise those signs correctly and is aware of and can locate available support, including the Channel programme where necessary. Preventing someone from being drawn into terrorism is substantially comparable to safeguarding in other areas, including child abuse or domestic violence.
 
Local Safeguarding Teams in the Health Boards and Trust will be able to provide staff with relevant local information on how to proceed when staff have a concern.

Guidance:

Prevent Strategy

Prevent Duty Guidance

Anti-terrorist Hotline number: 0800 789 321